When Kayla Cornish looks back on the past year, she often says the same words: “It’s not the story I would have chosen… but it’s the story that changed me forever.”
Kayla opened up, recently, about the journey of her baby, Darla. One filled with surgeries, tubes, hundreds of pokes, dozens upon dozens of IV’s and a life flight from Pagosa Springs, CO to Denver. And, more hospital rooms than any baby should ever know.
140 days in the NICU.
4 surgeries in 6 months.
A life that will never be “normal.”
And yet Darla radiates joy.
Kayla and husband Christian learned about their baby’s issues, including a rare congenital heart disease, during prenatal care. Both Kayla and Darla’s health were monitored closely and required a month long stay in Denver until her birth on February 19, 2025. The surgeons were prepped and ready on Day 1. The months that followed were a blur of NICU, medical interventions including three additional surgeries.
“It was heartbreaking. The NICU is intense. You’re never fully rested, never fully breathing.”
Discovering how Ronald McDonald House of Denver could help.
“I honestly don’t know how we would have made it through without the families and the staff… they get it,” Kayla says. “They know the exhaustion, the fear, the constant worry. They understood without me having to explain.”
When Kayla first arrived at Ronald McDonald House-Denver, she didn’t know what to expect. She had no idea how Ronald McDonald Houses really provides for families. Now? She tells everyone to support Ronald McDonald House-Denver. “I’m a walking advertisement.”
The hardest part was the distance from her family.
“I had to live six hours away for months. We were just trying to survive.”
For nearly nine months, Kayla was constantly away from her husband and her other children. Coming home, even briefly, felt surreal. Small things felt enormous.
“I’m overwhelmingly grateful for the normal and simple things like cooking for my family, snuggling on the couch, drinking coffee with my hubby in the mornings, talking walks. Just being home.”
They’re still learning. They’re still healing. But they’re together.
Life at home with a medically complex child is its own journey. At nine months old, Darla is developing more like a 3–4-month-old. She receives Physical, Occupational, T and Speech therapy weekly. And because she still can’t eat by mouth, she relies completely on her G-tube. Despite it all, Darla continues to smile. She’s even a finalist in Baby2Baby’s, a nonprofit that provides basic necessities to children in need, Baby of the Year Contest.
Their story is one of courage, heartbreak, resilience and deep gratitude.
“RMHC-Denver gave us rest. It gave us peace. It gave us connection,” she says. “It gave me the strength to keep going.”
